Report: iPads Account for 66% of Mobile Shopping, 90% of Revenue

iPad users account for nearly two-thirds of all mobile online shopping sessions and nearly 90 percent of mobile shopping revenue, according to a report released earlier this month from eCommerce solutions company RichRelevance. The report shows a large year-over-year increase in mobile shopping, from 1.9 percent of total online shopping in April 2011 to 4.6 percent in March 2012, with iPad users driving nearly all of that growth.

The iPad led nearly every category, with higher conversion rates (1.5 percent for the iPad vs. 0.57 percent average for other devices), more pages per session (5.7 vs. 4.1), and the highest average order value ($158 vs. $105).

Of note, the iPad shopping sessions were found to be higher during the weekends and evening hours, from 5 pm to 9 pm, while traffic from other devices remained stable through the week, indicating that the iPad has become vital to the leisure time of many consumers.

However, some mobile experts criticize the relevance of the report, which examined only eCommerce sites and not “mCommerce” sites, those designed specifically for the smaller screens of mobile devices such as smartphones. Tablets such as the iPad, with its larger screen, are much better suited for browsing full-fledged websites than smartphone-sized screens, on which users must zoom and pan to access the site. If mCommerce sites were included in the study, they argue, the distribution of devices would likely be far more even.

The report was based on more than 4.4 billion shopping sessions from 75 U.S. retail web sites and the highlights of the report’s findings are reproduced in the infographic, below:

It seems like the critics aren’t getting it. The results are about online purchases. It only makes sense the larger devices would be used for shopping. Trying to navigate a purchase on a smartphone even using an mCommerce site is not very pleasant. The real contenders will be tablet both iOS and Android and right now the iPad it the leader which is no surprise.